Google says there will be 1 billion devices with Assistant by the end of the month — from marketwatch.com by Emily Bary
On 01/07/2019,
in 21st century, analytics, bots, business, change, changing business models, computer science, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, economics, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, intelligent systems, leadership, MBA, robotics, society, strategy, tools, training / L&D, trends, United States, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Top six AI and automation trends for 2019 — from forbes.com by Daniel Newman
Excerpt:
If your company hasn’t yet created a plan for AI and automation throughout your enterprise, you have some work to do. Experts believe AI will add nearly $16 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and 20 % of companies surveyed are already planning to incorporate AI throughout their companies next year. As 2018 winds down, now is the time to take a look at some trends and predictions for AI and automation that I believe will dominate the headlines in 2019—and to think about how you may incorporate them into your own company.
Also see — and an insert here from DSC:
Kai-Fu has a rosier picture than I do in regards to how humanity will be impacted by AI. One simply needs to check out today’s news to see that humans have a very hard time creating unity, thinking about why businesses exist in the first place, and being kind to one another…
On 01/04/2019,
in accreditation, active learning, collaboration, competency-based learning/education, credentialing, face-to-face, ideas, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, microlearning, project-based learning, smart classrooms, tools, trends, United States,
by Daniel Christian
Top Education Trend of 2018: Active Learning Spaces — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark
Excerpts:
The top learning trend in K-12 learning in 2018 was active learning spaces–from double classrooms in old buildings from California’s Central Valley to the west tip of Texas in El Paso and multiage pods in new spaces from Redwood City to Charlottesville.
The flexible spaces facilitate project-based learning and competency-based progressions. Students move from project teams to skill groups to activity centers building skills and developing agency and self-management.
…
Competency: The Trend to Watch in 2019
A year from now people will be talking about competency frameworks–how learners progress as they demonstrate mastery.
The shift from marking time to measuring learning will be generational in length, but our landscape analysis suggests several interesting signs of progress that will be evident in 2019:
- In the most interesting merger of the year, LRNG, the leading youth badging platform, joined forces with SNHU, the leading online university. Look for badges capturing in and out of school learning that stack into college credit.
- More schools, like Purdue Polytech, will embrace project-based learning and competency-based progressions with support from XQ, NGLC funds, and NewSchools Venture Fund.
- More platform partnerships where districts/networks are working in development cycles with platform providers (e.g. Brooklyn LAB and Cortex, Purdue Polytech and Course Networking, Lindsay USD and Empower).
- More artificial intelligence is showing up in learning platforms improving personalization, formative feedback, and student scheduling.
- More demand for interoperability will be evident as a result of efforts like Project Unicorn.
It’s going to be a good new year. Find a couch or pull up a bar stool–your choice. Work on a badge or microcredential, it’s likely to be more widely recognized next year.
Also see:
- Top Ten Makerspace Favorites of 2018 — from worlds-of-learning.com by Laura Fleming
Brickstuff is the perfect way to light up Lego builds. This starter kit includes everything you need to get started. No electronics or soldering knowledge is necessary to set up these lights and start using them right away. Each flexible 2-LED Light Strip has a self-adhesive backing, which allows easy mounting to almost any surface. The strips are flexible, allowing you to mount them even on curved surfaces. This kit also includes a battery pack, so you can be up and running right away. This kit is ready to use with any microcontroller or robotics project too.
On 01/04/2019,
in business, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, microlearning, Microsoft, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, society, technology (general), tools, training / L&D,
by Daniel Christian
The skills companies need most in 2019 – and how to learn them — from linkedin.com by Paul Petrone
Excerpt:
To find out, we used exclusive LinkedIn data to determine the skills companies need most in 2019. These are the skills your boss and your boss’s boss find most valuable, but have a hard time finding – and the skills that’ll most help you better serve your clients and customers.
So consider this post your guide to the skills most worth learning in 2019.
The best part? We’ve unlocked LinkedIn Learning courses for all of January that teach these skills, so for a limited time you can learn them all for free.
Also see:
- This is how you’ll look for a job in 2019 — from fastcompany.com by Lydia Dishman
Some brand new strategies and time-tested traditions dictate the way job seekers will conduct the hunt in 2019.
On 01/03/2019,
in 3D, Augmented Reality (AR), design, digital learning, digital storytelling, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, Google, graphics, health, Microsoft, Mixed Reality (MR), nursing, story, storytelling, tools, United States, universities, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
FDA approves HoloLens powered medical augmented reality system — from by Richard Devine
HoloLens might be about to make surgical procedures a whole lot different.
Excerpt:
From Healthimaging.com
OpenSight specifically utilizes the Microsoft HoloLens headset that allows simultaneous visualization of the 3D patient images in AR and the actual patient and their real-world surroundings. The technique may decrease operative times and improve surgical planning and the understanding of anatomic relationships.
Can virtual reality revolutionize education? — from cnn.com by Emma Kennedy
“Kids love to engage with [VR] lessons,” said Guido Kovalskys, chief executive and co-founder of US-based edtech company Nearpod. “One minute, they are learning about Roman history, and the next, they are transported to ancient Rome and are exploring the Colosseum.”
From DSC:
Ok, so the title is on the overhyped side, but I do think XR will positively impact learning, understanding.
University of Washington Researchers Demo Ability to Generate 3D Augmented Reality Content from 2D Images — from next.reality.news by Tommy Palladino
Age of Sail: Setting the course for virtual reality narratives in the future — from by Jose Antunes
The most ambitious project from Google Spotlight Stories is also the one that pushes the boundaries in terms of the creation of narratives in Virtual Reality: embark on Age of Sail.
Augmented Reality Remote Collaboration with Dense Reconstruction
Addendum:
- VR & AR 2018: A year in review — from vrscout.com by Kyle Melnick
Excerpt:
If 2016 was the birth of modern VR/AR technology, than 2018 was its elementary school graduation. While this past year may have seemed like a quiet one when compared to the more exciting releases featured in 2017 and 2016, these past 12 months have been crucial in the development of the immersive entertainment sector.Major hardware releases, vast improvements to software, and various other integral advancements have quietly solidified VR & AR as viable, long-term technological platforms for years to come. So while there may not have been any bombshell announcements or jaw-dropping reveals per sey, 2018 will still go down as a key, if not climactic, year for VR & AR technology regardless.
With a new year full of exciting possibilities ahead of us, let’s hang back a second and take a look back at 2018’s most pivotal moments.
On 01/03/2019,
in Asia, communications, design, Facebook / Meta Platforms, global / globalization, Google, graphics, Microsoft, platforms, social learning / networks, social media, society, tools, UK, United States, vendors, visualizing information,
by Daniel Christian
On 01/03/2019,
in 21st century, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, bots, business, Canada, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communications, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education, education reform, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, ethics, Europe, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, heutagogy, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, innovation, intelligent systems, internet, law schools, learning, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, machine-to-machine communications, MBA, new business models, online learning, organizational change, pace of change, platforms, policy, political science, reinvent, society, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), telecommunications, the downsides of how people use tech, tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, youth,
by Daniel Christian
The world is changing. Here’s how companies must adapt. — from weforum.org by Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Although we have only seen the beginning, one thing is already clear: the Fourth Industrial Revolution is the greatest transformation human civilization has ever known. As far-reaching as the previous industrial revolutions were, they never set free such enormous transformative power.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming practically every human activity...its scope, speed and reach are unprecedented.
…
Enormous power (Insert from DSC: What I was trying to get at here) entails enormous risk. Yes, the stakes are high.
“And make no mistake about it: we are now writing the code that will shape our collective future.” CEO of Siemens AG
…
Contrary to Milton Friedman’s maxim, the business of business should not just be business. Shareholder value alone should not be the yardstick. Instead, we should make stakeholder value, or better yet, social value, the benchmark for a company’s performance.
Today, stakeholders…rightfully expect companies to assume greater social responsibility, for example, by protecting the climate, fighting for social justice, aiding refugees, and training and educating workers. The business of business should be to create value for society.
…
This seamless integration of the virtual and the physical worlds in so-called cyber-physical systems – that is the giant leap we see today. It eclipses everything that has happened in industry so far. As in previous industrial revolutions but on a much larger scale, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will eliminate millions of jobs and create millions of new jobs.
“…because the Fourth Industrial Revolution runs on knowledge, we need a concurrent revolution in training and education.
…
If the workforce doesn’t keep up with advances in knowledge throughout their lives, how will the millions of new jobs be filled?”Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
From DSC:
At least three critically important things jump out at me here:
- We are quickly approaching a time when people will need to be able to reinvent themselves quickly and cost-effectively, especially those with families and who are working in their (still existing) jobs. (Or have we already entered this period of time…?)
- There is a need to help people identify which jobs are safe to reinvent themselves to — at least for the next 5-10 years.
- Citizens across the globe — and their relevant legislatures, governments, and law schools — need to help close the gap between emerging technologies and whether those technologies should even be rolled out, and if so, how and with which features.
What freedoms and rights should individuals have in the digital age?
Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG
On 01/02/2019,
in blogs / blogging / vlogging, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, digital audio, digital video, education technology, podcasting, technologies for your home, tools,
by Daniel Christian
Best camera for vlogging 2019: 10 perfect choices tested — from techradar.com by Matthew Richards
Here are our top 10 vlogging camera picks
From DSC:
Also, with a different kind of camera in mind…and with a shout out to Mr. Charles Mickens (CIO / Associate Dean of Innovation and Technology at the WMU-Cooley Law School) see the amazing Light L16 Camera:
A Little Bit of Light from light on Vimeo.
On 12/31/2018,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, Canada, corporate / business world, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, digital photography, digital video, emerging technologies, ethics, Europe, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, global / globalization, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, intelligent systems, internet, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, machine-to-machine communications, Michigan, morals/values, pace of change, platforms, society, sociology, technologies for your home, technology (general), the downsides of how people use tech, tools, trends, UK, United States, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
Facial recognition has to be regulated to protect the public, says AI report — from technologyreview.com by Will Knight
The research institute AI Now has identified facial recognition as a key challenge for society and policymakers—but is it too late?
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
Artificial intelligence has made major strides in the past few years, but those rapid advances are now raising some big ethical conundrums.
Chief among them is the way machine learning can identify people’s faces in photos and video footage with great accuracy. This might let you unlock your phone with a smile, but it also means that governments and big corporations have been given a powerful new surveillance tool.
A new report from the AI Now Institute (large PDF), an influential research institute based in New York, has just identified facial recognition as a key challenge for society and policymakers.
Also see:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
At the core of the cascading scandals around AI in 2018 are questions of accountability: who is responsible when AI systems harm us? How do we understand these harms, and how do we remedy them? Where are the points of intervention, and what additional research and regulation is needed to ensure those interventions are effective? Currently there are few answers to these questions, and the frameworks presently governing AI are not capable of ensuring accountability. As the pervasiveness, complexity, and scale of these systems grow, the lack of meaningful accountability and oversight – including basic safeguards of responsibility, liability, and due process – is an increasingly urgent concern.
Building on our 2016 and 2017 reports, the AI Now 2018 Report contends with this central
problem and addresses the following key issues:
- The growing accountability gap in AI, which favors those who create and deploy these
technologies at the expense of those most affected - The use of AI to maximize and amplify surveillance, especially in conjunction with facial
and affect recognition, increasing the potential for centralized control and oppression - Increasing government use of automated decision systems that directly impact individuals and communities without established accountability structures
- Unregulated and unmonitored forms of AI experimentation on human populations
- The limits of technological solutions to problems of fairness, bias, and discrimination
Within each topic, we identify emerging challenges and new research, and provide recommendations regarding AI development, deployment, and regulation. We offer practical pathways informed by research so that policymakers, the public, and technologists can better understand and mitigate risks. Given that the AI Now Institute’s location and regional expertise is concentrated in the U.S., this report will focus primarily on the U.S. context, which is also where several of the world’s largest AI companies are based.
From DSC:
As I said in this posting, we need to be aware of the emerging technologies around us. Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. People need to be aware of — and involved with — which emerging technologies get rolled out (or not) and/or which features are beneficial to roll out (or not).
One of the things that’s beginning to alarm me these days is how the United States has turned over the keys to the Maserati — i.e., think an expensive, powerful thing — to youth who lack the life experiences to know how to handle such power and, often, the proper respect for such power. Many of these youthful members of our society don’t own the responsibility for the positive and negative influences and impacts that such powerful technologies can have (and the more senior execs have not taken enough responsibility either)!
If you owned the car below, would you turn the keys of this ~$137,000+ car over to your 16-25 year old? Yet that’s what America has been doing for years. And, in some areas, we’re now paying the price.
The corporate world continues to discard the hard-earned experience that age brings…as they shove older people out of the workforce. (I hesitate to use the word wisdom…but in some cases, that’s also relevant/involved here.) Then we, as a society, sit back and wonder how did we get to this place?
Even technologists and programmers in their 20’s and 30’s are beginning to step back and ask…WHY did we develop this application or that feature? Was it — is it — good for society? Is it beneficial? Or should it be tabled or revised into something else?
Below is but one example — though I don’t mean to pick on Microsoft, as they likely have more older workers than the Facebooks, Googles, or Amazons of the world. I fully realize that all of these companies have some older employees. But the youth-oriented culture in American today has almost become an obsession — and not just in the tech world. Turn on the TV, check out the new releases on Netflix, go see a movie in a theater, listen to the radio, cast but a glance at the magazines in the check out lines, etc. and you’ll instantly know
what I mean.
In the workplace, there appears to be a bias against older employees as being less innovative or tech-savvy — such a perspective is often completely incorrect. Go check out LinkedIn for items re: age discrimination…it’s a very real thing. But many of us over the age of 30 know this to be true if we’ve lost a job in the last decade or two and have tried to get a job that involves technology.
Microsoft argues facial-recognition tech could violate your rights — from finance.yahoo.com by Rob Pegoraro
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union provided a good reason for us to think carefully about the evolution of facial-recognition technology. In a study, the group used Amazon’s (AMZN) Rekognition service to compare portraits of members of Congress to 25,000 arrest mugshots. The result: 28 members were mistakenly matched with 28 suspects.
The ACLU isn’t the only group raising the alarm about the technology. Earlier this month, Microsoft (MSFT) president Brad Smith posted an unusual plea on the company’s blog asking that the development of facial-recognition systems not be left up to tech companies.
Saying that the tech “raises issues that go to the heart of fundamental human rights protections like privacy and freedom of expression,” Smith called for “a government initiative to regulate the proper use of facial recognition technology, informed first by a bipartisan and expert commission.”
But we may not get new laws anytime soon.
Just because we can…
The promises/possibilities — and yet the pitfalls/issues — regarding various XR-related technologies
On 12/28/2018,
in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, Amazon, Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), content development, aggregation, repositories, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, Facebook / Meta Platforms, future, game-changing environment, Google, health, higher education, Mixed Reality (MR), nursing, society, tools, trends, universities, usability, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web-based collaboration, workplace, XR - extended reality,
by Daniel Christian
On one hand XR-related technologies
show some promise and possibilities…
The AR Cloud will infuse meaning into every object in the real world — from venturebeat.com by Amir Bozorgzadeh
Excerpt:
Indeed, if you haven’t yet heard of the “AR Cloud”, it’s time to take serious notice. The term was coined by Ori Inbar, an AR entrepreneur and investor who founded AWE. It is, in his words, “a persistent 3D digital copy of the real world to enable sharing of AR experiences across multiple users and devices.”
Augmented reality invades the conference room — from zdnet.com by Ross Rubin
Spatial extends the core functionality of video and screen sharing apps to a new frontier.
The 5 most innovative augmented reality products of 2018 — from next.reality.news by Adario Strange
Augmented, virtual reality major opens at Shenandoah U. next fall — from edscoop.com by by Betsy Foresman
Excerpt:
“It’s not about how virtual reality functions. It’s about, ‘How does history function in virtual reality? How does biology function in virtual reality? How does psychology function with these new tools?’” he said.
The school hopes to prepare student for careers in a field with a market size projected to grow to $209.2 billion by 2022, according to Statista. Still at its advent, Whelan compared VR technology to the introduction of the personal computer.
VR is leading us into the next generation of sports media — from venturebeat.com by Mateusz Przepiorkowski
Accredited surgery instruction now available in VR — from zdnet.com by Greg Nichols
The medical establishment has embraced VR training as a cost-effective, immersive alternative to classroom time.
Toyota is using Microsoft’s HoloLens to build cars faster — from cnn.comby Rachel Metz
From DSC:
But even in that posting the message is mixed…some pros…some cons. Some things going well for XR-related techs…but for other things, things are not going very well.
…but on the other hand,
some things don’t look so good…
Is the Current Generation of VR Already Dead? — from medium.com by Andreas Goeldi
Excerpt:
Four years later, things are starting to look decidedly bleak. Yes, there are about 5 million Gear VR units and 3 million Sony Playstation VR headsets in market, plus probably a few hundred thousand higher-end Oculus and HTC Vive systems. Yes, VR is still being demonstrated at countless conferences and events, and big corporations that want to seem innovative love to invest in a VR app or two. Yes, Facebook just cracked an important low-end price point with its $200 Oculus Go headset, theoretically making VR affordable for mainstream consumers. Plus, there’s even more hype about Augmented Reality, which in a way could be a gateway drug to VR.
But it’s hard to ignore a growing feeling that VR is not developing as the industry hoped it would. So is that it again, we’ve seen this movie before, let’s all wrap it up and wait for the next wave of VR to come along about five years from now?
There are a few signs that are really worrying…
From DSC:
My take is that it’s too early to tell. We need to give things more time.
On 12/20/2018,
in A/V -- audio/visual, adjunct faculty, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, colleges, community colleges, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, face-to-face, faculty/staff, future, future of higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, machine-to-machine communications, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), personalized/customized learning, platforms, smart classrooms, teachers, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, universities, user experience (UX), vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
When a professor walks into the room, the mobile device that the professor is carrying notifies the system to automatically establish his or her preferred settings for the room — and/or voice recognition allows a voice-based interface to adjust the room’s settings:
- The lights dim to 50%
- The projector comes on
- The screen comes down
- The audio is turned up to his/her liking
- The LMS is logged into with his/her login info and launches the class that he/she is teaching at that time of day
- The temperature is checked and adjusted if too high or low
- Etc.